Luis Aragonés - 266.80 Performance Pts
Born: 01/02/1938 Hortaleza, Spain Died: 01/02/2014 Madrid, Spain
Position: Midfielder Height: 1.80m Weight: 73kg
Spain's victory at Euro 2008 ended their long trophy drought, securing their first title since the 1964 European Championships, and the manager that led them to success was Luis Aragones. He had an illustrious playing career as well, as a striker. 1964 was a key year for Aragones; he signed for Atletico Madrid (having previously played in the top flight for Oviedo and Real Betis) and went on to spend 10 successful years there. 3 league titles were secured, the last being in 1973; the following year they reached the European Cup final. Aragones scored deep into extra-time to give Atletico the lead against Bayern Munich. However, an equaliser by Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck forced a replay, which Bayern won convincingly, to kick-start their hat-trick of successes in the competition. Internationally, Aragones was a little late to the party, debuting for Spain in 1965, thus missing out on the previous year's success; he won 11 caps in total. His managerial career began, almost inevitably, with Atletico Madrid. He led them to La Liga success in 1977 and ended up managing them in 4 separate spells. He also took charge of 7 other La Liga sides (including both Oviedo and Real Betis, where he had previously played), before becoming national team manager in 2004. He left the role soon after the Euro 2008 success and spent a season in Turkey with Fenerbahce. His time in charge of Spain wasn't without controversy. He made some unsavoury comments about Thierry Henry, which led to the Spanish Football Federation being fined by UEFA. Upon his death in 2014, many key figures within the game (including current Atletico manager Diego Simeone) paid tribute to the part he played in the successes achieved by Atletico and Spain.
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